The present invention relates to an apparatus for breaking concrete, and more particularly to a concrete breaking apparatus having an impact roller carried and configured to enhance the dynamic impact force delivered thereby so as to boost the concrete breaking capabilities thereof while mitigating shock and vibration concerns.
Road construction projects, whether they be repair or reconstruction of streets or highways, typically require the removal of concrete road sections. Available processes for breaking up these concrete road sections are known to be time consuming and costly.
Common concrete breakers include pile driving machines which repeatedly drop or drive a variety of high density objects from an overhead mast, including but not limited to balls, drive shoes or xe2x80x9cguillotines,xe2x80x9d which most often comprise a heavy weight having a sharpened lower end. With machines of this general style, several repeated blows to the concrete is customary to effectively and adequately split and break apart the concrete. Such apparatus and methods make for unacceptably slow going. Furthermore, the shock and vibration generated by the numerous impacting blows is transmitted throughout the entire machine thereby necessitating frequent maintenance checks, more often than not yielding worn, broken or otherwise failed parts or components which require replacement or repair. This further slows down work to the detriment of the project.
Concrete breakers which drag impact rollers, similar in design to conventional compaction roller assemblies, have made modest improvements over the xe2x80x9chammerxe2x80x9d styles aforementioned, to the extent that set-up and break-down time has been eliminated. In short, the impact rollers are more user friendly, however, the issues of shock, vibration and component fatigue similarly plague the impact roller machines. Furthermore, it is common practice to make several passes over and through a work area with known impact rollers. Although the impact rollers are easier to xe2x80x9coperatexe2x80x9d and are capable of swifter coverage of a work area, they are not necessarily any more efficient at concrete breaking (i.e., the notion of improved or increased concrete breakage per impact) when compared to other methods or apparatus.
As such, it is most desirable to provide a concrete breaking apparatus capable of more quickly and efficiently breaking concrete when compared to those presently known. It is also desirable to provide a concrete breaking apparatus with enhanced concrete breaking capabilities. It is further desirable to provide a concrete breaking apparatus having enhanced concrete breaking capabilities that also reduces and greatly limits jerking and the transfer of shock and vibration. It is likewise advantageous to provide a concrete breaking apparatus capable of transferring energy to a rotating impact roller so as to accelerate the impact cutters of the roller toward the concrete surface.
The concrete breaking apparatus of the present invention includes a wheeled support assembly having an open end to accommodate the variable positioning of an impact roller therebetween and a closed end opposite the open end. A frame having opposing longitudinal arms connected near one end so as to define open and closed end portions is pivotably supported by the wheeled support assembly on pivot arms which connect the frame to the wheeled support assembly. An impact roller is fixedly interposed for rotation between the opposing longitudinal arms of the frame near the open end portion thereof. The impact roller has opposing ends, an axis of rotation through the opposing ends, and a surface equipped with spaced apart primary and secondary impact members traversing the opposing ends of the roller. An energy transfer assembly joins the closed end portion of the frame to the wheeled support assembly so as to resiliently link the two structures and transfer energy to and from the impact roller during propulsion of the apparatus in a manner to thereby boost the breaking capabilities thereof and mitigate the transfer of shock and vibration to the wheeled support assembly.
More specific features and advantages will become apparent with reference to the DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION, appended claims, and the accompanying drawing figures.